Laptop computers typically feature a fixed keyboard area and a touchpad area that tracks the movement of a user's fingers and serves as a replacement for a mouse normally used with a desktop computer. The touchpad and keyboard areas share space on a portion of the laptop. Because the keyboard and touchpad must be present, they serve to limit how small a laptop can be. As these components are reduced in size, however, their effectiveness is reduced; the keyboard becomes more difficult on which to type and the touchpad is able to track only a smaller range of motion. Because the keyboard and touchpad must each occupy a certain minimum physical space (to accommodate a user's fingers), the laptop computer must be at least a certain physical size.
In addition, the location of the touchpad on a typical laptop computer forces the user to remove his fingers from the keyboard in order to use the touchpad. The arrangement of the touchpad and buttons prevents the use of the buttons while the user uses the touchpad; the user must remove his fingers from the touchpad in order to click the buttons.